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Expansions are the Great Reset

World of Warcraft 3/Wrath is coming. A new expansion dropping is the perfect time to make big changes in your relationship with WoW.

All L71 characters are created equal. In the end, it won't matter when you get to L80 whether or not your character got Exalted with Cenarion Expedition. It won't matter whether or not you've been to Kara, SSC, or Sunwell. Your gear won't matter–no matter what you have, it'll be replaced by quest gear by L80.

We know this is true by looking at the last expansion. Once you entered the Burning Crusade, it no longer mattered if you were exalted with Argent Dawn, or had killed Ragnaros, or did the horrible grind to Exalted with the Thorium Brotherhood. All of that content became legacy content, just like Burning Crusade will become legacy content on the first day that Wrath is out. Death Knights aren't going to be gearing up in SSC, they're going to go to Northrend as soon as they can.

What does all this mean?

This is the perfect time to change your main. If all your toons are on even footing now, then there's no reason you can't simply choose a different toon to level, instance, and go through the endgame with. I know a few people who did this on Burning Crusade's release, and they're among the happiest players I know. They have more fun because they had already seen one WoW endgame on that character, so why not see it with another character?

It's also the best time to change professions. If you're the kind of person who feels guilty at the thought of trading one profession for another, since you have all those difficult bind on pickup recipes that you scored in instances or from reputation vendors… now is your guilt-free moment. Every crafted thing in the game receives an upgrade that can be wholly obtained in the expansion content alone: every last enchantment, potion, gem, and crafted piece of gear. Who needs +40 spellpower enchant when you can get +50? New instances, new reputations.

Your playing enjoyment comes first, but if part of why you like to play is because of your guild, then don't forget them in your decision. What about filling a role that your guild lacks? Is that alt of yours getting invited to a lot of guild raids out of necessity? Then why not ask your guild leadership if they'd welcome you in that role in the expansion? Same goes for professions–having in-guild jewelcrafters, enchanters and so on make for better guilds.

Keep all this in mind as you prepare for the expansion. How much do you like that alt? How much do you like your professions?